1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercising device and especially to exercise and therapeutic devices for hands, arms and fingers (Class 272- Subclasses 670 and 68). More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for providing resistive exercises for the hand and associated anatomic parts by providing a frame having two sets of pulleys mounted thereon. A weight-supporting cable having a weight at a first end and a finger receiving loop at a second end is threaded around one pulley from each of the sets, thereby providing weighted opposition to extension or flexion of the finger.
2. General Background
It has long been recognized that it is possible to strengthen the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of a human hand by providing gentle, resistive exercises over a period of time. It has been found especially desirable to provide a device for gradually increasing the resistance offered to the fingers being flexed in order to provide a suitable degree of exercise to the joints being flexed. Especially in the instance of post-traumatic recovery, it is important to provide increasing resistance to flexion during the period when the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the hand are recovering from the injury. Finger and wrist exercisers have also been suggested which would provide exercise for a healthy hand, such a device being used by musicians, atheletes or other persons requiring a high degree of manual dexterity and strength in their professions.
An early attempt to provide a finger exercising machine is found in U.S. Pat. No. 318,916 issued to Liebig. This patent discloses a finger exercising machine comprised of a baseboard having pivoted key levers and a supporting top bar, the pivotal bars being pressed toward the base in opposition to a resilient connection between the keys and the supporting top bar. The supporting legs of the crossbar are telescopically received in upright supports, thereby providing for adjustability of the distance between the crossbar and the keys. This feature permitted adjustable variation in the degree of resistive effort provided to the fingers being exercised.
Another patent disclosing a musician's finger strengthener is found in U.S. Pat. No. 638,632 issued to Griffin. The Griffin patent disclosed a plurality of rings each suspended from a flexible cord, the fingers being placed through the rings and pulled against the bias of the cord to provide exercise for the finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,719 provided an exercising device having a base member on which the forearm was adapted to rest. Finger loops carried by the device were disposed near the forearm-receiving portion of the machine, the loops being adapted for receiving the fingers of the hand. The loops were connected to cords which were disposed around a pulley and each of the cords was in turn attached to a biasing spring for providing resistive effort to the fingers when the loops were pulled against the biased springs.
U.S Pat. No. 3,871,646 issued to Slack provided another therapeutic machine for exercising the hands and fingers. It was comprised of a base having finger-receiving loops mounted adjacent a hand rest. The finger-receiving loops were secured to cords which were in turn connected to coil springs. A series of pins were mounted in the base adjacent the loops in order to provide a means for increasing the resistance to flexion or extension of the fingers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,327 issued to Herbowy for a hand wrist exerciser and disclosed a pair of opposing side uprights having a plurality of elongated tensioned elastic members extending therebetween. The forearm and or wrist of a user could be braced against the upper surface of a rest and the fingers gripped around the tensioned elastic members for providing resistive effort to fingers being flexed.
French Pat. No. 445,978 also discloses an exercising device for the finger which is provided which elastomeric cords.